This Comprehensive Map Traces 463 Of The Bible's Contradictions

No matter what your beliefs, it’s hard to deny that the era in which the Bible takes place was a more, uh, brutal time, filled with plagues, salt pillars and excessive murders — plus plenty of conflicting moral diktats from the man himself. Now, one designer has built a handy map to help us navigate the text.

Using data from the Sceptic’s Annotated Bible, programmer Daniel G. Taylor created this encyclopaedic visualisation of 463 of the Bible’s major contradictions. Here’s how to read it: Each vertical blue line represents a different chapter, ordered chronologically. The red arcs trace each represent a question about a specific person or concept. These range from incredibly mundane (“Is it OK to use perfume?”) to the monumental (“Is God the creator of evil?”). Clicking on one of the red lines takes you to a list of every relevant quote from both Old and New Testaments.

Taylor’s point isn’t to criticise or pick apart the book. Rather, he’s interested in analysing it carefully — and visually — to reveal common threads through the entire story. “This website aspires to be a beautiful and interactive resource for sceptics and believers alike to explore some of the more negative aspects of holy books,” he writes.

Though this is certainly a more sceptical take on the Bible, Taylor also included augmentative demographic data about faith in America. One Gallup poll, for example, found that 46 per cent of Americans not only believe in God, but also believe in the creationist view that God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years. [Quipsologies]

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Interesting. I wouldn't call of these inconsistencies. For example 'Is circumcision required?' This is not a contradiction, this is rather the Jewish Christians having a different perspective on circumcision. If you were to ask a first century Jew who had not accepted Jesus, I am sure he wouldnt say things like circumcision was not needed.

Skeptics only have a limited understanding of the Bible, unless they have studied it at university.

Genesis 2:18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make a help-meet for him.

No:
1 Corinthians 7:1 It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

There’s a “gotcha” moment if ever I saw one! And that was my very first attempt to find an example of a “contradiction”. I kid you not.

That, by the way, is not a contradiction. That’s an example of two separate “goods” - Theology 101.

Protestant fundamentalists who interpret the bible according to their own private lights (a heresy by the way) should be ashamed that their illogical ideology has resulted in this sort of “Gotcha” moment by sceptics. The Word of God is to be interpreted by the Church, “… the pillar and ground of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)

The Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, defined what books the Bible consisted of. She is the custodian of that scripture and passes it on to each generation. After one and a half millennia a few blokes decided that God got it wrong and that the Bible defined everything. Which makes God look like a bit of a dill in not being able to work out the basics for One Thousand Five Hundred Years until “you know who” came along.

Sheesh.

As Cardinal Newman, the great Catholic convert wrote, “To be steeped in history is to cease to be Protestant”.

Now, with history at everyone’s fingertips, to continue in ignorance is to be wilfully blind.

The Word of God is to be interpreted by the Church, “… the pillar and ground of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)

Ah, that's convenient. I would like to offer a counter proposal. Instead of your gang of assholes being the sole arbiters on Earth of the word of God, how about my group of assholes plays that role? My guys say that 'red' means 'blue,' 'up' means 'down,' etc.

This is one of the things that really bugs me - a single sentence is taken out of context and its most literal interpretation is taken as its intention. Did you actually bother reading any more of Paul's 1st letter to the Corinthians? This passage you quoted is an admonition against infidelity - Vs 2 says "Each man should have sexual relations with his own wife and each woman with her own husband..." Please do a little research before putting your name to these sort of things!

"That, by the way, is not a contradiction. That’s an example of two separate “goods” - Theology 101."

I think you guys are arguing the same point. His comments were about why this list of contradictions don't hold up well. Taking text out of context.

What many people don't realise is that many of the books in the bible were written for particular groups of people depending on who was writing and who the text was for. Also, modern interpretation of ancient text is like trying to interpret tea leaves in a cup without really understanding the circumstances for why they were presented is such a way as they were.

I do not get your point. I hate to tell you but YOUR genetic material is being changed every day of your life.

I challenged my beliefs when I was in a christian high school. When I asked questions about these contradictions, I was ignored, even shunned. I decided way back then that I would believe in something that is logical, plausible and based on evidence, not some load of barnacles from an old story book. I still have moral values. I still abide by the 10 commandments as best I can.

I do not believe in a god. I believe in the universe. We exist thanks to the universe and it's complexity.

I challenged my beliefs when I was in a christian high school. When I asked questions about these contradictions, I was ignored, even shunned.
That's no good, I'm sorry that this happened. Good questions should never be ignored just because it challenges the people being questioned, you should never have been treated this way.I decided way back then that I would believe in something that is logical, plausible and based on evidence
I agree, all beliefs should lie in rationality and logic. However, that's not to say being a Christian means that they haven't just come to belief without applying this. I for one am a Christian and I have logical, evidence based beliefs for my faith (dont mistake the word faith for the word blind faith, although unfortunately for a lot of Christians this is the case).

I believe that even if you dont believe in a God, we are still moral creatures, and will more often than not prefer good than evil. I don't think that you have to believe in a God to be a good person. I guess the better question to ask is "what defines morality", and is morality objective or subjective.

You do have half formed organs; You have a tail. You have an Appendix. If you want to see evolution in action, compare your thumbs to that of your grandparents. Compare your own milk teeth to those of your grandchildren. Evolution is a slow process, but it doesn't mean it's half-baked.
If you want to cure yourself of your thought-virus, go do some post-graduate education. Don't know why it helps, but it does.

"Don't know why it helps, but it does."
Because knowledge is kryptonite to religion. Amazing how religion empowers every day uneducated people to somehow feel condescendingly superior to scientists, immensely more intelligent people who devote their life's to seeking answers. I'm not saying there definitely is no God (although that's where my money is), but even if there is, these aren't the people to have found him, and he/she/it would be nothing like what they describe.

They have found good reasons for an appendix. I know of one study where they say it stores good bacteria for your gut (modern medicine has stopped us needing it).
If they removed all the organs they thought unnecessary from you (from 1950's science), you would be lucky to live 5 years)